Inspectors give Sellafield clean bill of health

The Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) in Britain has today given the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant a clean bill of health.

The announcement was made on the condition that continuous monitoring of management standards is permitted and ongoing.

A report published by the NII in 2000 stated 28 recommendations should be addressed at the nuclear facility in Cumbria following the discovery in 1999 of significant falsification of data.

The NII will "carry out a review at regular intervals to the end of BNFL's declared programme," an NII spokesman said.

This will require BNFL to report on the progress and delivery of the requirements outlined by the NII.

The report was called for in 1999 after an official from the NII visited Sellafield to inspect managers' claims that irregularities had been noticed by their quality control team.

It was discovered that sampling of rods was not carried out and the records that showed it had been done were copied from previous checks.

Mr Brian Watson, Director of Sellafield, said the operation and safety of the plant has now improved due to the overhaul. A three-year plan was implemented to address the issues identified in the report